Architecture and Influence: Brad Pitt
It’s no mystery that you don´t need to graduate from architecture school at university to become an architect – just ask Le Corbusier, Mies or Frank Lloyd Wright.
Clearly Brad Pitt didn´t go to school either, but trust me that I wouldn´t be too surprised to see him receiving an architect award or the honorary title from a renowned US university. Who´s more “architect”? The one that went to school and never built, o the one who didn´t went to school and builds?
Despite the fact that he states that “whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion”, not only he has more work that most of the architects i know. As if announcing a 800 room sustainable hotel in Dubai wasn´t enough, he spent his visit to Washington DC meeting senators and congressmen -such as Nancy Pelosi, as pictured above- to gather support for this project/foundation Make It Right, aiming to develop housing prototypes for the reconstruction of New Orleans.
This project works with practices such as MVRDV, Shigeru Ban and Morphosis, who developed 13 prototypes for the first stage to consolidate a 150-house neighborhood, having 90 financed so far thanks to donations to his foundation.
On previous news about Brad Pitt and his passion for architecture, several people commented that this was just an actor´s caprice… I would take this more seriously. The fact of studying at an architecture school or not seems very irrelevant to me, compared to the smart way on using his fame and exposition to develop and finance architectural projects, such as his house, a multi million dollar hotel, restaurants and interiors with Frank Ghery or a foundation to rebuild New Orleans, getting goverment´s attention and raising dozens of millions of dollars, something that lots of architects would really like to.
I´ve heard of very succesful architects coming from totallly unrelated backgrounds, such as finances… it seems that Hollywood and architecture don´t work bad either.
But beyond the anecdotal aspect, I think that what´s remarkable on this is how an “outsider” to the architecture world is able to give us a good teaching on how to origin, develop and finance an interesting project such as MIR making a good use of his available resources, such as public image and influence on this case.
@bldgblog we should really try to get Brad Pitt to attend Postopolis! LA: http://tinyurl.com/brad-pitt-architect
Brad thinks the Sony centre at Potzdamer platz is beautiful too, which is silly because the sony centre in Berlin is terrible agressif steel shit.
It is true that in the past architects could build without actually have a degree of architecture.
Nowadays you can maybe design soms things but it will always have to pass a professional architect, which is a fair act.
I didn’t know that being a celebrity developer interested in design suddenly qualified you to receive honorary degrees? Less celebrity fluff and more buildings… maybe Eli Broad will be up for the Pritzker next.
Putting Pitt at par with Piano or Pelli? The only thing they share is the letter ‘P’, that does not entitle the former for a ‘P’ritzker. ‘PittScare’ is more apt! Cummon!
Brad Pitt is somehow making a respectable architect of himself… http://tinyurl.com/agc6kz
Every housewife can do what Brad Pitt did here. Unfortunately also every housewife can do what Zaha Hadid does – especially when the housewife is in psychiatric care. People like Zaha Hadid have prepared the way for stars to get into architecture business. Making funny forms and then hoping for some creative engineers who will be able to build that is definately NO architecture. Good architects know what is going on in their building. From Statics till air condition. And an architect who cares for such cannot come to solutions like they are built by those “stars”
By the way: wasn´t Ronald Reagan a perfect president…? :)
Greetings
Alexander Leopold
What is the most ridiculous in this article, that they seem to forget, that architect is NOT just a guy who makes funny sketches and then gives them to engineers, who have to suffer with them and somehow bring to life. With such point of view, SURELY, every school boy can be architect, and Brad Pitt as well, and no education is really necessary.
But IN IDEAL, an architect must have professional education -to have at least elementary knowledge of constructing and engineering. This knowledge, at least, will make one’s brain THINK before painting another line on a sketch paper. >>
>> The sentence like “Who´s more “architect”? The one that went to school and never built, or the one who didn´t went to school and builds?” made me laugh. What means “builts?” Do such pseudo-architects, like Hollywood actors, make constructing documentation for the projects? Do they make static calculations by themselves? Do they spend hours on building sites? No. The outmost they can be called – DECORATORS. But surely no architects. Have respect to this profession, please.
And also please, have at least a bit respect to engineers. They are, who really “builts”, and always stay unmentioned in a shadow of our “architectural stars”. None of nowadays stars would ever appear without their help, exactly because they (stars) have nothing except “passion for architecture”, which is FAR NOT ENOUGH to construct a building.
E.K.,
architect, Russia
I was looking for the requisite “sarcasm” tag accompanying this post, but alas found none. Mentioning Pitt in the same breath as Wright or Mies is plainly a joke. Please let this be a joke. By this same perverted logic, Trump is all the more an architect.
Why not give credit where due and appropriate. He is a spokesperson, an advocate, perhaps a developer. Nothing more and nothing wrong with that either. However, one’s personal interests a qualified architect do not make. I read some articles on WebMD the other day and also did some work with clients in the medical field.. surely that qualifies me to perform surgery? Not.
M.S.
NYC
This world keeps getting stranger and stranger.
Brad Pitt: whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion http://bit.ly/DE9yG
An architectural education is just the beginning. Most of the important stuff is learned during internship and the decades to follow.
I would be more annoyed by Mr. Pitt if he were designing vacation homes for friends and calling himself an architect. Instead he is doing some good and has so far respected the title by not referring to himself as an Architect…..although, there are plenty of real architects who don’t deserve the title, either.
Pitt doing responsible thing in building, planning, and architecture: http://tinyurl.com/agc6kz
spot on jeromy
while i agree with you all on the difficulties of being an architect and that he should not be labeled one. i think you are missing the point that he is using his fame and success to simply help people in new orleans. he obviously does not need more fame. stop being so ignorant about your own insecurities and let the guy pull together funding from other philanthropic people around the country to help others who are suffering a great misfortune. forget the fact he would like to be an architect and never studied to be one, but he could still be a patron, and one that knows the way it can change and help a society.
it’s sad to see so many online commentators to blogs like this, curbed, archinect, etc. simply be negative and narcissistic in their words and views. if you feel so ashamed of pitt, then why aren’t you out there helping build a home? or help raise funding?
I can’t blame you all for being so defensive and cynical about the article. After all, most of us suffered through more than 5 years of Architecture school to call ourselves architectural INTERNS, and would probably have or would suffer a couple of more years of work to call ourselves architects. And yes, despite whatever the myths had claimed, it was NOT all about drawing sketches on tissue papers. So yes, I agree with most, that Brad Pitt can’t (unless he takes a completely new career path) call himself an Architect any time soon.
But most of what Brad is doing now is the same stuff your clients would have done: garner support for his charity work, try and fund it and maybe just for some pride, claim some creative credit for it. He’s a patron! A passionate one, at that. Seriously, don’t you guys wish you had clients like these, instead of your usual “E-mail you at 7am about GFA and cost issues” clients?
I like that he is bringing attention to architecture by using his celebrity status. Most people do not even think about buildings and he will at least make some of those people inquire. Same as Frank Gehry – he is more important for what he brings to an architectural practice than the actual buildings.
Architecture is vast and endless, no matter how famous someone is, they can never really take it on, because in essence it’s not about status..architecture is about personal growth and that always needs education..that is the reason, just because someone calls themselves an architect does not mean they are, even with an honours paper on the wall. It’s about what you make. If Brad left acting career and Angelina wouldn’t expect him to be home at night, then I’d be more convinced :)
whatever it took, some homeless people got some help. if any of you could do that, call him a joke.
Specific to Katrina and New Orleans, the huge oversight is that the cause is presumptuously taken by the likes of these celebrities for one reason or another. However, Brad Pitt goes forth and seems to try to solve the problem through Make it Right and using architecture and its ability to capture public attention, whether positive or not, to make it seem like they’re solving these social issues.
However, the problem in NOLA is largely socio-economic and political. Using Sagaponac to save NOLA is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. While we, as designers, would like our work to be a part of the larger picture, it’s necessary to note that a few designed houses aren’t going to actually change the fact that larger policy-driven initiative is going to be needed to actually change these lives.
This discussion here took a strange direction. There is no doubt, that helping poor people is a good thing. Mother Theresa also helped poor people, but she never announced herself as an Architect. There is no doubt that financing the raising of buildings is a good thing. Al Capone financed lots of orphanages and other charity buildings, but he never announced himself as an architect.
The point is that when such people call themselves architect, the meaning of the profession suffers. And after a short time it comes to the result that actually no one needs an architect anymore, because developing buildings is a thing that everyone can do, as it seems.
So, people, lets start with a clear question: What, do You think, does an architect actually do…?
Alexander,
Great question. What does an architect do? An architect is a facilitator. An architect develops a program and fulfills the program to create usable spaces that hopefully don’t kill their occupants.
Thanks Jeromy. Seen aside, that this is a very overall view on that profession… – did Brad Pitt do that?
In my opinion not. So he is no Architect. He maybe is philantrop. So please don´t call everyone architect, who dreams of houses…and tries to collect money to build them.
He’s not an architect, and I’m sure he realises the distinction between somebody who has the money and connections to be able to dabble in building design (his contributions will be done with the assistance of a qualified architect, I would imagine) and somebody who spent 7 years or longer earning the qualifications. Because of his fame though he has a good chance at being able to bring attention to the positive side of a profession that is ignored by many, mysterious to others and despised by some (for its association with destructive profiteering ‘development’ and failed social experiments of decades gone by). I’m convinced that this is basically a good thing.
@ethel_baraona Yes, the Archdaily's article about Brad Pitt it's quite intriguing! http://tinyurl.com/agc6kz
To Alexander Leopold, comparing yourselves with Zaha Hadid is a non-sense, after seing your web site, one can understand that you are not an Architect, you are just selling the image of architecture, and advertising building products to feed builders.
Being an architect is not being a technician in AC or in space planning, with the pretentions and the arrogance of a pseudo-artist.
The fact that you all feel frightened by BP is laughable, who cares about his PR operation, unless your own grasp of architecture is just obsolete.
I think that Brat Pitt can be a great architect, but he have much work to do, couse is something that we have to know, to learn and put in pratic
To Abdul Al Hazred: I have just re-read my first comment and I cannot find there any sentence, in which I compare myself with Zaha Hadid. Obviously You misunderstood something…
And because of my homepage: Surely I am no Architect. I am Interior Designer and Product Designer. And the only products, which I advertise are the ones which I have created myself. Is that a sin…?
And in case of Your discription of what an Architect should be or is not I fully agree. By describing that You Yourself have thrown out Brad Pitt from Architecture :) thanks :)
He’s not an architect, for god sake! If he had spent all those years studying and not sleeping like I did, he would surely know that it’s not just about having some nice ideias, and maybe then his love for architecture would have significantly decreased. I’m really offended with this. Money and fame can’t buy him the title of architect..
Looking at pictures of Brad Pitt spending time with all the children makes him really an ideal father. What an amazing man that every woman could wish for
Brad Pitt has arrived in Hungary with his twins to join Angelina. What a big house that she rented for them. Its great they are happy together as family. I admire Brad, I am jealous
Doesn’t most of New Orleans site below sea level? Why would you want to rebuild in an area that will probably flood again in the future. I feel sorry the poor is at the mercy of the ignorantly rich. COME ON BRAD!! Build something you and your 7 children would call home…..